Before You Go
by TheyreSkittlesStupid
Summary: The night before Shikamaru is to leave for Suna, the Akimichis, Yamanakas, and Naras throw a barbeque. However, amidst the festivities, Ino has something important she has to tell Shikamaru before he goes. Rated T to be safe. Oneshot ? . Team Ten love. ShikaIno.


It was the last night before Shikamaru was to leave for Suna. He was going to be stationed there, along with a handful of other jounin, for at least three years as part of a new addition to the Leaf-Sand alliance. He would get to visit home once a year, assuming that fit into his schedule, and going by past data, the odds were high that after being stationed there so long, he would decide to just settle down in Suna permanently.

The news hit his teammates hard. The three of them had been together for as long as any of them could remember; when your fathers were old teammates, that tends to happen. No other squad could say that all three members had been at every single birthday party of each of their teammates.

It was a sad time for their parents, too. The Yamanakas and Akimichis considered Shikamaru to be as much a part of their families as their own children. And, although he was eighteen, and he was a fully grown adult allowed to make his own decisions, and he'd been seriously discussing moving out even before this transfer was brought up, the adults were saddened by him moving so far away.

So, as a last hurrah before he left, the three families put on a barbeque on the Naras' land complete with lots of pork, chicken, sauce, and music. Inoichi brought out an old _koto_ and showed off his rusty strumming skills. After a few rounds of sake, Shikaku and Chouza started to sing along.

The three teenagers laughed at their parents' antics while their mothers groaned and began cleaning up, as an excuse to get away from the racket. Suddenly, Chouza grabbed his wife's wrist and swept her up in a highly ungraceful jig.

Shikamaru smiled as he watched his father coerce his mother into a dance as well. He really was going to miss this place. The sunset was over and the only light came from the bonfire in the middle of the group and the few torches set up around the perimeter. It was almost magical.

He was brought out of his reverie by a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw Ino leaning over him with her hand on his shoulder. Chouji stood behind her.

"They seem pretty happy here. Let's go off somewhere," she said quietly.

He nodded and got up to follow her. The three of them left their parents laughing and dancing like teenagers and walked far enough away that the bonfire was smaller than a _go_ piece in the distance.

Ino stopped and flopped to the ground. She crossed her arms behind her head and looked up at the night sky. Shikamaru looked over at Chouji, who gave him a smile and sort of shrug before lying down with her. The shadow-nin followed suit and lay down on Ino's other side.

The trio lay in silence for a while, hearing nothing but cricket chirps and the distant _koto_. The stars were beautiful tonight. He supposed they were beautiful every night, but he was more of a cloud-watcher, personally. He tended to spend his nights inside or in town, where it was too bright to see the stars. This was nice.

Chouji was the one to break the silence. "I'm really gonna miss you, buddy," he said, his gaze never leaving the sky. "We've been best friends for more than ten years; what'll I do without you?"

"Maybe you'll finally ask out that cute waitress at the barbeque restaurant," joked Shikamaru. "I know you've had your eye on her for a while."

Chouji laughed. "Yeah, but after that who'll I go to so I can spill all the juicy details?"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "I'm pretty sure even if I _weren't_ leaving, Ino would be a better match for that."

"Oh _please_, Shikamaru, I'm no good with guy stuff," Ino said with a smile. "I'll go 'Aw, that's so sweet,' and tell him what to get her for her birthday. But who will he go to to flaunt how good she is in the sack?"

Chouji started spluttering and trying to get out some response and Shikamaru and Ino started laughing.

"All right, you win that round," Shikamaru said when he got his laughter under control. "You'll just have to send me that in a letter, Chouji."

"But the mail might be intercepted," Ino countered, as Chouji was still having difficulty getting words to form. "And I just _know_ how mortified Chouji would be if some ANBU read over how _turned on_ you were by the sight of that curvy brunette wearing nothing but an apron and high heels."

Ino was on fire tonight, Shikamaru admitted to himself as the two of them burst out in laughter again. Chouji rolled over on his side, and even in the darkness Shikamaru could tell that he was beet-red.

"I'm not going to— I just thought she— That— That's so perverted!"

"Fine, you win that round too," Shikamaru conceded as his best friend grew even more flushed. "But maybe Naruto could help you out there, Chouji."

Eventually Chouji was able to calm down and his face returned to its normal color. "I know I'm not going to be alone when you're gone, Shikamaru. There'll be Naruto, and Kiba, and all those guys. And Ino, too. But you're my best friend, and none of them will be able to take your place. There are some things I only feel comfortable talking to you about. And I'm _not_ talking about when – if! – I need to talk about 'dirty' stuff." He shot Ino a dirty look and she winked at him. "I mean lots of things in general."

Shikamaru sighed. "I get it. It's the same for me. Maybe worse, honestly. I'm not going to have _any_ of you guys. The only people I could even _maybe_ consider myself friends with in Suna are Temari, Gaara, and Kankuro. But the Hokage gave the order, so I'm off."

Chouji was quiet for a minute. "Team Ten is no more," he said quietly.

"We haven't been Team Ten in a long time, Chouji," Ino replied somberly. Shikamaru knew she was thinking about Asuma-sensei. It was true that, since then, they hadn't been a real team. And even before that, after they all made chunin, they'd been on missions with different squads. Maybe Team Ten actually disintegrated when he'd passed the chunin exam first.

"We're the new Ino-Shika-Chou," he said, without completely realizing it.

Ino turned toward him. "We _were_ the new Ino-Shika-Chou," she corrected. "We had a good run. Kicked a fair share of butt. Proved we weren't the same little wimps we were before our first chunin exam. But all good things have to come to an end sometime."

Shikamaru wasn't sure how to respond. He got out of doing so when Chouji's mother's voice carried across the field.

"Chouuujiiii! Come help me with your father, dear!"

Shikamaru looked back and could just barely see that the large man had passed out on the ground. It was well-known that Chouza was always the first to go when he and his old teammates went out drinking. He felt that, as such a heavyset man, he could hold far more liquor than his scrawnier friends. He just tended to greatly overestimated how much "far more" was.

"Coming, mom," Chouji called back. He got up and headed back to the bonfire to help move his father into a more comfortable place.

Inoichi's faint drunken singing carried out to where Shikamaru and Ino were still lying on the grass and she giggled. Shikamaru smiled. He was glad that, so far at least, this goodbye hadn't been a sad, teary one. It was easier that way.

"I'm really going to miss you, Shika."

Shikamaru glanced over at the blonde and saw that she was still looking up at the sky, her arms loosely crossed over her stomach. "I'll miss you too," he replied. There was a whole new tone to her voice that made him uneasy.

"I'm sure you wouldn't know it from the way I usually act toward you – but you're a genius so maybe you did – but you really are one of my best friends."

Damn, had he thought too soon? Were the tears about to start? Silently praying for the make-Chouji-uncomfortable Ino to come back he said, "I know. You don't hit me as often as you hit Naruto or Kiba. That's usually a good sign."

She laughed softly. "You know, and this is kind of embarrassing, which is why I'm not saying it when Chouji's around, but I've always thought of you as… well, I guess I've always felt differently about you. I don't know how to explain it exactly. But my whole life, I've lived how I want to live. I say what I think, and sometimes that makes me sound bitchier than I'd like, and I go after what I want. And I've never cared too much about how people thought of me."

She propped herself up on one elbow and looked at him. "But it's different with you. I don't know what it is, maybe it's because I know you're so much smarter than me or something, but I've always felt like I need to… prove myself to you. Or something like that. I tried not to let it show, but when I screwed up in front of you, I was always _super_ embarrassed! You remember that time in the Forest of Death when I tried to seduce Neji so he wouldn't attack us? And how that totally didn't work? Mortifying. Completely and utterly mortifying. And every mission since then, and even before then, when I mess up I'm totally humiliated. But then when things go right, especially if it's when you, me, and Chouji are doing one of those Ino-Shika-Chou formations, I feel like shouting with joy. I wanted to make chunin because I thought it would impress you. I've pushed myself hoping to impress you. So I think that, indirectly, I'm a better ninja because of you. Maybe a better person too, but that's not for me to say." She smiled. "I really admire you, Shikamaru."

He was pretty speechless. He'd never made any sort of connection between Ino wanting to impress him – why would she want to impress him? It didn't make sense – and… well, anything. "Oh. Um, thanks." That was the best he could come up with? "Why did you want to impress me so much?"

She laughed and shrugged. "Hell if I know. It's just been like that for so long. I mean, I had a little crush on you when we were thirteen and I saw what a great ninja you were, but I got over that in a couple months. And I don't know what it is now that…" She trailed off. "I mean, I suppose it's possible that I actually have feelings for you, and I just don't want to see it. But don't get scared, possible doesn't mean likely." Then she smiled, kind of sadly. "I know you're moving there for her. I know you asked Tsunade if there were any spots left to go to Suna. I know how you feel about her, and for all I know she might feel the same way about you. I won't pry. And I'm not trying to get in the way of you two. This isn't some confession of undying love for you. Just a different sort of confession I wanted to get off my chest."

Shikamaru kissed her then. How could he not? He just propped himself up on his elbows, leaned over, and gave her a soft kiss right on the lips.

He pulled away and saw her staring at him wide-eyed. "You… you just kissed me. Why did you just kiss me?"

"I'm a jounin, Ino. I'm an expert at reading between the lines. And I know you." Shikamaru, not totally sure about his own feelings at the moment, started to explain. "Honestly, I sort of expected a heartfelt good-bye from at least one of you guys tonight. That's to be expected when I'm leaving. And you knew you needed to say something to me before I left, but because you weren't sure how I was going to react, and because if it went wrong it would be humiliating, you settled with confessing that you admire me. However – and I know this will sound incredibly conceited – you actually have feelings for me. You just don't know if you should admit them, especially when you know how I feel about Temari. So I decided to… be nice."

Ino stared at him, unblinking. Her gaze shifted from one eye to the other. Shikamaru gave nothing away.

"I think you're bluffing," she said. "You made that up. I think you weren't just being nice, you wanted to kiss me too."

He scowled at her, but her fiery expression was unwavering. Eventually he sighed. He put his head back down on the ground and crossed his arms behind it.

"Fine, it's true that I've always wondered what that would feel like. And I'll confess I had a bit of a thing for you when we were twelve, before we were put on the same squad. But I wasn't completely lying about what I said before. What I said was more of a theory than the certainty I made it out to be. I'm no genius in relationships."

Ino scowled. "Frankly, I can't tell if what you said was right or not. I might have feelings for you, I know that they're different from how I feel about everyone else, but I don't know for sure. I'd like to think it's just friendship. But, on another note…" She tossed her hair back for effect. "You kissed me without warning. That means I haven't gotten to kiss you, which I think is unfair. So, am I allowed to kiss you?"

The shadow-nin frowned. "First kisses are one thing. First kisses can be just impulse, a spur-of-the-moment thing. They can be just a whim. Second kisses make things complicated."

"Oh please, you're leaving for three years. I hardly think it'll matter whether we kiss once or twice or even three times tonight!" She paused and he looked up at her questioningly. "Oh hell with it, you didn't ask _me_ permission first."

Ino leaned down and kissed him hard on the mouth. But she wasn't as chaste as Shikamaru. She brought her hand to his cheek and held him there as she drew out the kiss for as long as possible.

Shikamaru kissed back, mostly on instinct, and (again on instinct) brought his hand to the back of her head. At least he would tell himself it was purely instinct in the years to come.

He had no idea how long they stayed together. It may have been ten seconds, two minutes, or half an hour for all he knew, but he heard cat-calls on the side so they bolted apart.

"Took you two long enough!" Chouji said as he got closer. He sat down next to his two now-scarlet teammates. "I've been done with my dad for ages, but when I came back I saw you two were in some pretty intense discussion. So I waited, and I saw Shikamaru kiss you, and then more intense discussion, and then… well, you go, Ino!"

"Hello, Chouji," Ino muttered bitterly. Shikamaru couldn't tell whether that was from being interrupted or for being spied on.

"Sorry. It's just… I know it's weird, but I've had a feeling about you two for a while." Chouji shrugged. "But lemme guess, it was a one-night, before-I-leave kinda thing. Bummer."

Shikamaru remained silent. He needed to get his thoughts under control. He had just kissed Ino… His teammate, one of his two closest friends, his _first_ friend… And he liked Temari! He was moving to a whole new _country_ to be with Temari! And he was pretty sure the Suna kunoichi liked him too, although she'd never said anything… So how did he feel about Ino now?

He supposed that was his biggest problem, so he tuned Chouji out and tried to think. How _did _he feel about Ino? That kiss – those kiss_es_ – had definitely made him feel something. Then again, they were his first kisses ever (not that he would admit that to anyone), so maybe it was just because of that.

He really was rotten with relationship stuff.

He heard Ino's father calling out to say they were going home. That was followed by Chouji's mom yelling the same thing.

"Coming!" the young Yamanaka and Akimichi yelled back.

All three teammates stood up. Shikamaru realized that this was it. He was leaving at four in the morning: too early to expect them to get up and see him off. This would be the last time he would see his teammates until his short visit back next year.

As they started to head back, he figured it didn't matter what his feelings toward Ino, or even Temari, were right then. He was going to Suna no matter what. In three years, when – if – he moved back to Konoha, he could figure it out. If it was even still an issue.

"Damn second kiss," he thought.

Then Ino took his hand. He saw her take Chouji's in her other hand. Without exchanging another word, they returned to their parents, all hand-in-hand.

Shikamaru permitted the hugging and "We'll miss you"s from his friends' parents as the teary good-bye finally started. He really would miss them too, it was just hard to think about at the moment. Then all the parents backed off so his teammates and best friends could say good-bye on their own.

Ino walked up to him and gave him a long, tight hug. He held her back, and heard her sniff once. She was crying. As she unwrapped her arms from him, she reached up and gave him a very light peck on the cheek; nothing romantic, she probably would have done the same regardless of what happened earlier.

"Good luck," she said with a watery smile. Then she took a few steps back, away from him.

Chouji was there instantly, wrapping his arms around his best friend in an all-consuming bear hug. "You'd better not forget about us back here, man," he said.

"'Course not," Shikamaru answered. He was almost being smothered by his friend, but he didn't mind.

Then Chouji reached out and grabbed Ino and they all stood there in a group hug. For the second time that night Shikamaru was at a complete loss as to how much time passed before they broke apart.

Later that night, Shikamaru mulled things over in his bed. He'd always assumed this day would have to come: the day he had to leave his old friends behind in order to set out on his own path. But why did it have to hurt so much?

When he walked out of the village gates the next morning with the other men and women off to their new lives in Suna, he forced himself not to look back. He didn't look back for the entire trip. And by the time he reached the gates of Suna, he felt that this whole move would be much easier than he anticipated.

The Konoha shinobi were led to the Kazekage, who, after a short briefing, directed them to their new apartments. Shikamaru's roommate was a Hyuuga clan member a few years older than him.

The Hyuuga unpacked quickly and efficiently and then, with a nod in Shikamaru's direction, left the apartment.

"This should be fun," the shadow-nin muttered as he continued to take things out of his bags. As he grabbed a few shirts, his hand brushed against something hard and smooth. He clasped the object and pulled it out.

It was his old Team Ten photo, taken the day after he and his teammates were officially declared ninja. Ino was in the front center position, winking at the camera and holding up two fingers with a smile on her face. Chouji's mouth was partially open and his eyebrows lowered in a confused scowl; Shikamaru remembered that he was in the middle of asking who took his chip bag that he'd been holding a few seconds before. (It was Ino, who had tossed it into the camera bag when her teammate's back was turned to make sure he wasn't eating in the picture.) Asuma-sensei was smiling half-heartedly, his eyebrows together to make a clear "Why me?" face. (He'd seen Ino hide Chouji's chips, and was dreading the argument he knew was imminent.) And Shikamaru, to Ino's left, was rolling his eyes and crossing his arms, evidently wishing to be anywhere but there. But it was an act; on the inside, he remembered that he was thrilled that he was now an official genin. And he had been placed on the same squad as two of his best friends. And their sensei seemed pretty cool so far, and had even mentioned _shoji _once. The shadow-nin looked exasperated, but in reality he was thinking of the most nonchalant-sounding way to ask his new sensei to play him in _shoji_.

As Shikamaru stared at the photograph, which he had packed weeks ago and hadn't truly looked at for much, much longer, he realized he was tearing up. "Good thing my roommate isn't here to see this. Can't say this would make a very manly first impression," he thought as he wiped his eyes on his sleeve.

He placed the photo on his nightstand carefully, angled so he could see it from his bed. Then he finished unpacking slowly and methodically.

And then, when the last kunai had been safely secured in his closet, Shikamaru headed out to where he knew the messenger birds were kept. It was probably about time he checked back in with some old friends in Konoha; and he really wanted to know if Chouji had asked out that waitress yet.

A/N: At the end of this summer (and later this week, in some cases), all of my friends and I are heading to college, thus the inspiration for this story came to be. I'm also kinda conflicted about whether to make an epilogue for this (do one-chapter stories get epilogues?), because I can't think of any sort of overall conclusion for this that isn't super cliché. *shrugs* Well, reviews are always welcome! I love to hear what I'm doing right, what I need to change, the whole shebang. And thanks for reading!


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